Will Microsoft Live Search get renamed 'Kumo'?
In a filing last December 4, Microsoft has trademarked the "Kumo" name, after previously acquiring the Kumo.com domain name. So it's bound to mean something eventually; the question is, will it mean something new?
In its trademark filing, Microsoft said that it might use the Kumo name for a variety of purposes, such as "computer search engine software," "computer searches, including search engine services," and "dissemination of advertising including dissemination of advertising for others via the Internet."
The 'fast-lane' debate resumes over Google and tiered access
What could be a "non-story story" in this morning's Wall Street Journal which some are saying strays too far from the truth, was met with a "non-denial denial" response from Google indicating it may not be too far from wrong.
The chatter this morning is about whether Google, a company whose name actually means "big," is approaching cable companies about possible partnerships that could give certain customers higher-speed, premium access to higher-bandwidth content such as YouTube and Google Apps. This after a Wall Street Journal story painted Google as two-faced, advocating so-called "net neutrality" principles in public while making exclusivity deals with carriers in private.
Group seeks kids' online safety in the White House
Everybody wants something from the next administration, and a group called the Family Online Safety Institute is no exception, asking that increased effort be put toward kids' online safety.
The group requests that President-Elect Obama create a post of "National Safety Officer," to be located within the office of the Chief Technology Officer -- an office to which the new administration has long been committed to creating. FOSI also seeks the creation of an annual White House Online Safety Summit, a US Council for Internet Safety, and an ongoing Online Safety Program.
Alcatel-Lucent wants to get webby with you
A serious corporate realignment re-focusing the business on three markets (and four investment areas) puts a Web 2.0 glamour -- it's still glamorous, Web 2.0, right? no? how about Web 3.0? -- on telco manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent.
There are layoffs on tap as well for the French firm. Around 1,000 managers and 5,000 contractors will find their jobs eliminated over the course of 2009 and 2010.
Home opens its doors for the PS3
Sony's PlayStation 3 sales dropped 19% in November, but with the public availability of Home, the console has increased in value.
Silicon Alley Insider's Eric Krangel posted an op-ed today calling the PlayStation 3 a "sinking ship."
Analysts: Wireless HDTV slated for CES 2009 still 'incipient'
At CES 2009, companies will talk up at least four different standards aimed at transmitting HDTV wirelessly over home networks. But a lot of this technology isn't yet ready for prime time, some analysts say.
Vendors are already out there pitching their plans to demo products at CES aimed at sending HDTV wirelessly throughout the home. According to some industry analysts, however, at least some of the four competing wireless approaches are still "incipient."
French embassy site faces denial of service attack
The Web site representing the French Embassy in China has reportedly been weathering a DDoS attack, not four days after Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei said France "grossly interfere[d] in China's internal affairs."
A spokesman from the Chinese Foreign Ministry has denounced the attacks, saying that any links drawn between China and the action are purely speculation, and reports should be based upon solid proof of culpability.
Yahoo weakens its anti-Microsoft 'poison pill'
Yahoo on Wednesday revised a controversial severance plan -- first adopted to defend against a Microsoft buyout bid -- to the point where the plan will no longer apply if a sale of Yahoo's search business does occur.
The plan created in February -- often referred to as Yahoo's "poison pill" -- gives full-time Yahoo employees, including top executives, financial guarantees in the event of a "change in control."
Pre-activated iPhone 3Gs available online in the US
AT&T has simplified the 3G iPhone acquisition and activation process, allowing the iconic device to be purchased pre-activated online.
The iPhone 3G's activation process has earned criticism since the device's launch in July. It differed from its 2G progenitor in that it had to be activated in-store, an aspect which caused immediate delays in availability due to over-stressed AT&T and Apple infrastructure. Many who eagerly waited in line for the iPhone 3G found themselves in line a second time for activation, others were sent home with printed instructions on how to activate the device from home. Home activation proved to be just as much of a hassle.
Bush administration urges FCC to vote against free broadband mandate
Sure, the US government has been in favor of expanding access to free "broadband" service to the masses. But the current administration is opposed to mandates, and there's still enough time to make that opposition stick.
In an open letter to US Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin yesterday, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez repeated the current administration's opposition to the idea of mandating that a portion of the Advanced Wireless Services AWS-3 spectrum being auctioned off next year, be exclusively set aside for businesses that wish to operate no-fee nationwide broadband services.
What we suddenly don't know about the new IE exploit
One of the only sources of hard information yesterday about an IE remote code exploit that Microsoft only knew about circumstantially, now says not only is the Web full of misinformation about it, but it blames itself.
Just how many online news sources have to repeat a piece of information before it becomes, by default, true? That's the question faced by literally everyone, including BetaNews, who reported on Microsoft's revelation earlier in the week of what was believed to be the existence of new attacks affecting its Web browsers.
Feds having fits over FISMA and cybersecurity
The Federal Information Security Act of 2002 caused concern over cybersecurity in government entities that hadn't shown much of it previously, lighting fires under folks who needed warming. So what's all this talk of burning FISMA down?
FISMA's birth certificate is fairly petite -- the section of the E-Government Act of 2002 that created FISMA weighs in at a readable 16 pages (PDF available here). It outlines a set of mandatory processes for compliance for information systems used by or on behalf of the US federal government.
IRS chided for not showing its work on a data-sharing initiative
On July 15, the IRS will launch a 45-state data-sharing initiative, but according to the GAO, there's almost no evaluation data indicating whether or not it works correctly. There's not even data on how to evaluate the data.
Data-matching's not a new concept to the IRS, but the State Reverse File Match Initiative (SRFMI) moves the data in the other direction -- that is, from the states to the federal agency. The goal of the program is, as one might expect, to figure out who's not paying her share and to get that money, thus helping to close the estimated $345 billion gross federal tax gap.
Hey, Sony, leave those kids alone: Settlement in COPPA case
The largest COPPA settlement to date was handed down Thursday when Sony BMG agreed to pay out $1 million for having collected and used without parental consent personal information on tens of thousands of kids under 13.
The violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act involved 196 fan sites for musical acts such as Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Brown, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. According to the US Federal Trade Commission complaint, Sony BMG's sign-up process for viewing and participating in such sites required the user to enter their name, date of birth, email address, mobile phone number, gender, city, state, and country.
Psystar charges Apple with 'kernel panic'
Psystar can no longer accuse Apple of breaking the Clayton and Sherman antitrust acts. But the Mac clone maker continues to take the offense in its defense against Apple's charges of IP violations.
After its previous claims against Apple were thrown out of court, Psystar this week morphed its accusations against Apple in several other directions, including a complaint that Apple is causing Mac OS to crash when the operating system detects it's running on non-Apple hardware.
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